When God uses our dislikes for witnessing

There are many things that I do not like and would rather not have to put up with. We all have a list of these. There are times that we make a conscious decision to put ourselves in a position where we have to deal with a dislike.

For example renting. We have been renting for ten years now and it can become tiring. As most of you may know we rent in Melbourne and it was a conscious choice on our part. We could own a home elsewhere but not anywhere near the McKinnon church. Thus, we have willingly put ourselves in the position to deal with this dislike. I should state that I really do not like renting and it is at times a great battle of contentment.

I go up and down with my contentment levels on this subject. There are times that I am very content and then there are days where I am ready to leave this stinking expensive city for the plains of Indiana just so that I can own a massive 12 bedroom, 5 bathroom, 4 living area house on 2 acres of land.

Thankfully God can and often does use our dislikes/short falls for his glory.

We just put in a veggie garden in the front yard of our house. I decided to put it there so when working in the garden we would be visible to any neighbours walking by. This decision has already helped in getting to the the lady across the street more closely. She is Greek and the Greeks around here love gardening. So as soon as she noticed that we were putting in a garden she was over offering veggies of all kinds and herbs that only have Greek names.

While she was showing the kids and I her garden she mentioned how we rent but still take care of the house. She was impressed that we did this as she said "it is not our house".

I was able to explain to her that as Christians we try to love our neighbours as Jesus says we should.  Our landlord in a round-a-bout way is our neighbour and taking care of their house is a way to love them. I also said that God provided this house for us and so even if we don't own it we should still be thankful for his provision. A way we can show this thankfulness is by taking care of what he has given us. I think she was able to understand most of it and Lord willing he might use it in her life.

I suppose people on our streets and yours expect you to take care of your house if you own it. That's what you do. However it can say a bit more when you are renting and you take just as good care, or even better care of the house your living in compared to those around you. This shouldn't result in a pride war where we compare our lawns and gardens to see whose is the best. We should see it as an unexpected way to witness to others.

So renters take heart, God can use even your housing situation to help you be a light to your community. Something I had not really thought about before. Thanks Lord for another learning experience.

p.s. Don't forget to weed!

Won't you be my neighbor? Part 3

Just a few pics of the red snapper at dinner time.  As I said before it was delicious!

Ingredients

Fish prep

Ready for roasting

After 30 mins. A feast!

 

Customer #1 - Not sure why B's drink is in her hand? (!)

Customer #2  - Ready to eat!

Customer #3 - Taking this very seriously

Won't you be my neighbor? - Part 2

Sorry this is a few days late.

I thought I should at least do A's b-day post seeing as though it too was already late. So our recent neighbor experiences...

#1 - Answers

We have been praying the last few weeks that some opportunities would arise to either have the neighbors over or at least spend some time with them.

Last Sunday the kids were playing outside and the neighbor boys ended up coming over to hang out for awhile. While talking to the boys we learned that their parents had kicked them out of the house because they, the parents, were trying to tile the kitchen floor. I realized that with the kitchen in disrepair the neighbors might have troubles cooking up dinner that evening, so after going back and forth about it we asked them over for a BBQ that night. I don't know why I was hesitant (is anyone ever hesitant at inviting unknown people over to their personal space?), it was a great opportunity to serve them while they were working on their kitchen. We had been praying for an opportunity and here it was.

We all walked over to their house and invited them over. They took us up on the offer and came over for a BBQ letting their new kitchen tiles rest a bit. They ended up staying almost three hours. We really had a good time talking to them about the school and community around us. We also told them about why we moved to the area (church re-plant? and talked about church in general for a while. A good time and we are thankful for the opportunity God gave us.

Their boys go to the school around the corner from us. It was good to talk to the the mom and dad about the school as we are considering sending Jolene there in a year or two. The school is only to grade 6 and has about 400 students. Not very big. It is a block from our house so she could easily walk there or ride her scooter. We will see how next year goes.

So take the opportunities as they come. Playing outside in the front yard/street is great when wanting to meet the neighbors. This is especially true on Sat/Sun when people tend to be home more often. During the week we hardly see anyone outside.

#2 The Red Snapper

That same Sunday we were outside talking to some other friends who stopped by the house. We noticed something going on in the drive way of our next-door neighbors and decided to wander over.

We get over there to see that the entire driveway is covered with fish, large fish. Apparently red snapper to be exact. Theo told us that he had been away all week fishing and this was the catch. He also said they had caught about 40 snapper, although one of the eskies (cooler) fell off the back of the ute and had tossed its contents all over the highway. Theo, being the very generous neighbor he is, offered us a snapper. I told him we would take one off his hands but that I didn't really know what to do with it after that. "I'll send my mom over", Theo replied.

Come Monday mid-morning, Theo's mom knocked on the door. I grabbed the fish form the fridge and we went out back. Here is what happened next.

Taking the scales off

The girls watching intently

Taking the guts out

Removing the gills

Wash

Egg sacks. You are supposed to dip them in flour and then fry. I forgot.

Gills

Inside of eye

Head for fish-head soup

Yum!

We roasted the snapper that evening. It was delicious. The kids had seconds and thirds. We ate the entire fish. I boiled the head and made soup out of the stock. It turned into one big gelatinous mass while sitting over night in the fridge. Kind of funny looking the next day when dumping it into the pot. The soup was supposedly better then the fillets, according to B that is. I don't know if I would agree. I would have to say that they were both very tasty.

While we were watching Carol clean our fish the story of Jesus going to recruit his disciples came to mind. They used to be fishermen but were then called to be "fishers of men". Spending time with people in whatever form it may take is certainly part of being fishers of men. Helping others out and then be willing to accept the help and generosity of others. You never know where the conversations will go. I am thankful for the opportunity to learn from Carol and thankful that Theo was willing to share some of his catch.

#3 Keep Trying 

After trying for several weeks Gu finally came to lunch (he moved in with a fellow classmate several months ago). We tried to arrange something a few weeks ago, and then for Thanksgiving and then finally for last Sunday lunch. We enjoyed catching up with Gu. It has been several months since he moved out, making it difficult to keep in touch with him.
I would like to have him over again soon to talk more about work and life. He told us that he wants to study banking so that he can be a banker and make lots of money. I asked him what he was going to do with all his money? Gu said "buy things." I asked "like what?" Gu responded "I don't know, maybe anime." I couldn't help laughing at that answer. It would be nice to talk to him more about having purpose in life, how materialism will never satisfy and other heart matters. Maybe in the future.

Gu is certainly not someone who is easy to have over. I always feel like I am interrogating him and he hardly ever asks us questions. Hospitality isn't always easy or comfortable, this is one of those situations. We are learning that there can be silence for several minutes in our conversations with him and it is OK. I am also learning to interpret his answers a bit better. I think learning to listen carefully and keep trying are the key lessons we are learning with Gu.

Won't you be my neighbor?

We have been talking about being missional neighbors quite a bit recently. Maybe due in part to the fact that we are helping with a church re-plant.

Either through our pastor or others, we have come across some helpful material focusing on hospitality and becoming missional neighbors. Instead of restating what others have said, in a more grammatically correct form at that, I will point you to the sources.

1. A few ideas on how to interact with your neighbors from the Missional Church Network.

2. A blog post by a husband and wife covering the topic of hospitality.

3. The book "A Meal with Jesus - Discovering Grace, Community, & Mission around the Table" by Tim Chester. See here for a better and complete review of the book.

I haven't finished the above book but I would highly recommend it for reading. I would also recommend including it in every wedding gift you give. Young married couples should start building a hospitality vision from the get-go. This book will certainly help point the way.

This book challenges Christians to not think "if" but "when" concerning hospitality. It is something we should all be doing.

I like what Chester says at the end of the introduction.

"True, it's not always easy - it involves people invading your space or going to places where you don't fee comfortable. But it's not complicated. If you share a meal three or four times a week and you have a passion for Jesus, then you will be building up the Christian community and reaching out in mission."

Here are two quotes that I found helpful, especially when we are with the Prison Fellowship families.

"Involvement with people, especially  the marginalized, begins with a profound grasp of God's grace. Often our instincts are to keep our distance. But the Son of God ate with them. He's not embarrassed by them. He lets them kiss his feet. He's the friend of riffraff, traitors, the unrespectable drunks, druggies, prostitutes, the mentally ill, the broken, and the needy (homosexuals should be here as well) - people whose lives are a mess."

And in case we are sitting on that lovely pedestal...

"Involvement with people, especially the marginalized, must begin with a sense of God's grace. But not just God's grace to them, but his grace to me. I need to be melted and broken by grace."

We (I) need to remember that we have been rescued out of the very same mess all the above are still in.

And to finish some good old stats from Chester's (quoting someone else) book.

- There has been a 33% decrease in families eating together over the last three decades.  And more than half of those families are watching television as they eat together.
- Over the same period there's been a 45% decline in entertaining friends.
- In the typical American household, the average number of dinners eaten together is three per week, with the average length of dinner being 20 minutes.


 "Sharing a meal is not the only way to build relationships, but it is number one on the list."

Tomorrow I'll mention our recent attempts to share meals with neighbors, a Red Snapper dinner and thoughts for future meals.